


Breather

by Milkbonez



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24419461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milkbonez/pseuds/Milkbonez
Summary: Kaede shares her feelings to Kokichi during a quiet moment after the Death Road of Despair.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede & Oma Kokichi
Comments: 16
Kudos: 40





	Breather

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Ch 5 and 6. This is a follow-up to [this fic right here](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19663546) and I intend to do the series thing but not when it's midnight o'clock.

Kokichi was eager to generate a new plan, spitball new ideas, but Kaede only slumped against the back of her dorm’s loveseat. “Before we jump right into things,” she said, “can I please take a break?”

“A break? You took a long shower, didn’t you?”

Her glare made Kokichi regret his words. “I _cried_ for most of my shower. I thought that I was among the last survivors of humanity. That everyone I knew and loved was dead. Not to mention the entire Death Road of Despair.”

Kaede’s sigh was weighty. “I’m really, really grateful that you told me your theory about an audience. I really am. Hearing you explain the clues you picked up—it gives me hope that it’s really true. But all this excitement… it’s tiring. Can I please have an hour to rest a bit?”

Kokichi’s expression didn’t change as he thought about it. Time was precious. There was work to be done. But the day was still young, and she only asked for an hour. “Very well. I’ll be back in sixty minutes, on the dot!” He hopped up from the loveseat.

Kaede took in a breath behind him. He paused, glancing back with a pout. “Whaaat?”

She hesitated for a moment. Steeled herself. “Would you please stay with me?” Before he could answer, she managed a most pitiful half-smile. “Just in case someone is planning to sneak up on me.”

Kokichi mulled it over. He would prefer to go back to his own room, where he had all his notes on his drawing board. Here he would be alone with his thoughts while Kaede slept. But… she was clearly still shaken about getting to the end of the despair tunnel. It was only one hour, right?

He sighed a huge, dramatic huff. “I guess I can protect my underling just this once. But you’ll be in my debt.”

“You forever have my gratitude.” As Kokichi flopped down beside her, Kaede leaned her head back against the loveseat, eyes closed. He watched her. Wasn’t she going to nap in her bed?

She spoke again unexpectedly. “It was such a huge comfort for you to come see me, you know? Even before you told me your thoughts about an audience.”

“Oh, yeah…?”

“Mm-hm. That glimpse of the outside world we saw… I felt… alone.” Kaede’s voice cracked. “That’s all I could think about while I was showering. I was completely and totally alone. Most of the class still has mixed feelings about me, you know. I can see it when they talk to me. Even if nobody says it, it’s on everyone’s mind. How I was almost a murderer. On top of that, I keep choosing to reach out to and associate with you, of all people.”

Kokichi tensed but said nothing.

“I don’t regret spending time with you, just to be clear. I don’t regret splitting time between you and Shuichi and Kaito, when they’ll have me. You three are pretty much the only ones who choose to trust me in spite of… you know.”

Kokichi relaxed at that. Kaede tended to wear her heart on her sleeve. It was one of her weaknesses. Catching her in a lie was child’s play.

She went on, “But in a way, it is just the two of us. I wouldn’t want anyone to see what’s at the end of the Death Road of Despair. The sorrow and hopelessness I felt… Nobody else should have to feel that, even if it’s just a lie. Having you by my side, sharing the same awful secret… it feels like I’m not alone. That I’m not the only one to carry such a huge weight on my shoulders.” Kaede’s lips curled in the ghost of a smile. “It sounds stupid, probably, but you being here means more than you know.”

Kokichi stilled. Stared at her, relaxed against the back of the sofa. He couldn’t speak. His heartbeat picked up in speed, and his thoughts and feelings came in a flood. She was right, it _was_ stupid. Sharing her personal feelings to him, out loud, when the mastermind was surveilling everyone. He could think of a dozen different jabs he could make at her to get her to see just how stupid it was. His mouth was dry, though. His tongue stuck to its roof.

And yet, her stupid admission stirred something inside him. He clenched one fist. Kaede’s admission was so… vulnerable. Here she was, wanting to take a rest after their exercise in the despair tunnel and she goes and says… all of that? How stupid! How daring… How trusting. That was it. She trusted Kokichi, enough to want him around when they weren’t _doing_ anything.

Kokichi burned inside. Trust was a dangerous business in the killing game. Anyone could turn around and lethally betray that trust. He was quite familiar with being in that position — he knew a betrayal against him by someone else was currently in the works. And here Kaede was, leaving herself open to attack by him, knowing that he wouldn’t.

She _knew_ he wouldn’t.

She was willing to be vulnerable to him. To tell him that her mood, her life, improved by him being around. That opening the doors at the end of the tunnel left her utterly devastated and, in a sense, isolated. That Kokichi beside her made her feel less alone. That his presence gave her strength.

A tear pricked the corner of his eye. It was so stupid… because her words were a mirror of how he felt. Kokichi burned with envy. He envied how readily she believed in him, refused to believe he was dangerous and truly capable of evil. He could never admit it, but she described exactly how he felt about the end of the tunnel, about Kaede being there with him.

He wanted to say that he would be just as strong and sure of himself if he had been working alone. But that was a lie, wasn’t it?

How ironic. Of all the people he could have let close to him, it was the would-be murderer. Logically, if she could make an attempt on someone’s life once, she could do it again. He wasn’t entirely safe. It was a thought that plagued Kokichi since the beginning. Even so, he agreed with what Shuichi had said back in the first trial: murder was not in her character. Kaede’s remorse, Kokichi knew, was genuine.

His jaw clenched. How weak of him…! Or perhaps Kaede’s strength was her willingness to believe in and be open with him.

Kokichi turned to her again. Kaede was slumped over now, head lolling. Breathing steady. Her wrist twitched in her lap. He scooted in close and leaned on her, his head on her shoulder. She smelled clean, soapy. He closed his eyes and relaxed against her. He could tell from how she shifted that she woke to lift her head, to check on him. She settled again.

A remnant of paranoia lurked in the back of his mind. Kaede could turn on him. She had that power, that was a fact. But she wouldn’t. As much as he was loath to admit it, Kokichi believed in her, too. It allowed a sense of relief to settle over him as he nodded off against her shoulder.


End file.
